Statesman Pen

Brand new to the community, but I have really gotten the woodworking bug bad! I guess since it all sort of snowballed after watching a pen turning how-to at Woodcraft, it is only appropriate that a pen be my first project post here. After giving everyone in my family and my wife’s family a custom pen for Christmas (around 15 people), my wife’s step-dad actually “commissioned” a set of four pens to give to his boss that is retiring. A little nerve-wracking for a newbie, but I said ok and he ordered a set of really high-end pen kits and some beautiful burl blanks. This is the first pen I turned and I must say, I am pretty happy with how it turned out. Only three more to go. I’d love feedback/tips/etc.

I have done a ton of other stuff including building my shop/workbench that I will have to post about later.

welcome to lumberjocks, I got started in the same manner at a woodcraft pen class, watch out though….them burls will break your heart when they blow apart, it seems that I only pick wood that is extremely hard to work, your pen looks great, how well does the fountain pen write?

Pen looks great, I’m with deuce,,you’ve got to be carefull, some of the hardwoods will go to pieces,,,what I’ve learned is drill the hole first then cut the blank to size, most of the exploding occurs when the drill bit exits the blank, in my experience.